German
French
Parnassi musici
(on period instruments)
The period instrument
ensemble Parnassi musici, whose origins are in the 2nd violin section of
the the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Freiburg, confronts
its listeners time and time again with the unexpected, both in terms of
its superb musical standards as well as its highly imaginative
programming.
...be it their search for the roots of Strawinsky's Pulcinella, the trio
sonatas by Domenico Gallo (not Pergolesi!) and their acclaimed CD of
them, nominated for the Cannes Classical Awards in 2001..
...be it their own transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations for the
250th anniversary of Bach's death, which allows the listener to forget
the harpsichord for awhile and has been labelled "authentic" by the
press..
...be it the way they bring back to cities like Vienna and towns like
Bad Mergentheim their "own" music (long forgotten by them) and return
home with words of commendation "superb, loving attention to detail,
passionate.."
...or whether they join forces with tubist and performance artist Klaus
Burger under the motto "The Joy of Repetition" to play a seamless
program of repetitive baroque forms like the chaconne, passacaglia,
folia and ground, alternating with improvisation and reaping comments
like "the attraction of opposites" and "a concertant exchange of
blows"..
...or their approach to the theme "Women in Music", in which they
alternate works by several different 17th century composers based on the
same ancient song of mourning ("Madre non mi far monaca" - Mother, don't
make me become a nun.) with compositions by Mother Superior Isabella
Leonarda - a surprising juxtaposition of the outside world and that
within the convent walls..
...or how they turn a normal solo partita by Bach into something
"unheard of", in which the performing space plays a role and two
violinists are kept busy, occasionally together, without altering a
single note.
Accordingly, the group never ceases to amaze experts and their own
producer alike with the choice of unknown and underestimated composers
for CD productions for the label cpo, often premiere recordings and
"encyclopedic" in character. Who had ever heard of the names Philipp
Friedrich Buchner, Dietrich Becker, Giovanni Battista Tibaldi, Domenico
Gallo, Giovanni Benedetto Platti, or Guiseppe Antonio Brescianello
before?
A mixture of the experience they have acquired in modern symphony
orchestras playing the most modern music, and their expertise in baroque
performance practice, combined with plenty of imagination, daring, and
the simple joy of playing brings the pure essence of the music to light.